cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

I have scheduled the migration of all my sites from my reseller account with Eukhost to my VPS for Friday 2nd October. This gives my 2 weeks to get all accounts onto the new server and check all settings before finally changing the nameserver IP addresses. As the switch is from cPanel to Virtualmin there is a change in email login usernames for every mailbox i.e name+domain.com as currently exists in cPanel to name@domain.com as I have set in Virtualmin. I have, and will continue to send out high priority emails to all mail boxes to inform of this change needed in email clients. I am also including a guide in my website on how to do this with Outlook and Outlook Express as that is what most of the users use. Despite all of this I just know on the morning of Monday 5th October I will get countless phonecalls saying "My email is down" because people have ignored all of the advanced warning. I will likely have to go and change most of the email client settings myself as they are all in my local area, most of them work for my cousin.
14 REPLIES 14
mentalist3d
Grafter
Posts: 371
Registered: ‎20-08-2009

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

I know how you feel, we changed web hosts a while back, and sent out all the reminders about changes happening, updates to settings, etc. and still I had clients on the phone to deal with their issues. Half of them did admit, that even though I sent individual and personal e-mails about the changes, they just didn't think it applied to them, or briefly scanned the e-mails and then deleted them. I feel sorry for you that you will have to visit some of your clients, as your time will be better spent ironing out any teething issues. If only clients realised this Sad
I'm having to move hosts, due to bad practices by the hosting company, but luckily it will only affect my site this time, so no clients to worry about Smiley
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

Thanks for the support. I am not actually moving hosts, just upgrading within Eukhost. I have found them fantastic over the years. I am not expecting any other teething issues as I am able to fully test all aspects of the sites on the VPS before finally changing the IP addresses of the nameservers. Bit of a change from cPanel to Virtualmin GPL though as I don't see the point in paying the extra for cPanel/WHM on the VPS.
One of the main reasons I am changing is the tight security restrictions on the reseller account. It automatically blocks IP addresses after a couple of failed login attempts which has prevented me offering Webmail among other services to my clients.
mentalist3d
Grafter
Posts: 371
Registered: ‎20-08-2009

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

I have never used VPS before, as I cannot justify the cost at this point in time, but I am hoping to eventually just so I can have more control over my server, and offer extra services as well. My last host didn't even run CPanel, most things had to be ordered through the support tickets. I've just been using cPanel this weekend (moved host) and already like the extra freedom I've gained compared to how my past host worked.
I've never even heard of Virtualmin (I've still got a lot to learn though). Currently moved from shared hosting to dedicated hosting, then after a few years to VPS (hopefully)
Hope it goes smoothly for you Wink
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

VPS's are not that expensive. In my case it is £190/year compared with £150/year for the cPanel reseller account I am migrating from. Virtualmin has a free version (Virtualmin GPL) that can easily be installed on any Linux server but it does require more Linux/Hosting understanding than cPanel. cPanel is fantastic and easy to use but it gets expensive once you start using it on a VPS or dedicated server which why I am using Virtualmin.
Idealy I would love to ditch all the hosting companies and host myself as I do have a dedicated Linux hosting server at my home also running Virtualmin. Unfortunatly due to the speed of ADSL it is currently not feasible to host any more than one personal site on this server.
mentalist3d
Grafter
Posts: 371
Registered: ‎20-08-2009

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

I've thought about setting up my own server (with help) at home as well, but know it want be any use for my needs cos of the ASDL speeds.
Those prices seem good, my last host was charging me £60 per year for shared hosting, which was fine for static html sites, but carp for any site needing to connect to a database.
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

Yeah, I spent years teaching myself Linux to get a server up and running. You also have to think about the power supply, i.e. large UPS backup if you are serious about hosting. Virgin Media's 50Mb fibre broadband would do the trick but I am over 25 miles from the nearest cable area in Belfast.
I am confused about your shared hosting for £60/year only useful for static sites? You were definitely ripped off. Eukhost's shared hosting is half that price complete with cPanel, Fantastico and up to 99 mysql databases.
mentalist3d
Grafter
Posts: 371
Registered: ‎20-08-2009

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

From what I gather they hold their MySQL servers in a different location, you always had to use an IP address for MySQL rather than "local host", which I've been told is bad for a website. Also their PHP.ini file could only be accessed by them and most of the features were switched off, which meant any time I tried to install an OS Gallery script, I would have to upload, configure, test, contact support, to be told, try something else. This process would go on until I found something that works, a great timewaster.
Mind you my new host looks promising, got access to fantastico and cPanel, and overall, I feel as though I have got more freedom on the server. I wish I heard about Eukhost earlier, I checked them out and they seem a good price, not to cheap, but not to expensive. I'm on a years contract the now so if that doesn't work out, I will consider Eukhost, thanks Smiley
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

Had a quick look at streamline. Their website looks very pretty but not much detailed info for anyone who has good hosting knowledge. I get the impression they are a fairly small company, not offering cPanel made me think this. cPanel is charged per physical server so you need quite a customer base to make it financially feasible. Also the bit about having to wait for availability of dedicated servers gave me an image of someone setting up servers in their garage Grin Was there any control panel? What was it?
Not having MySQL on the same server could not be good for the speed of a website. Plus Net operate their free webspace in a similar way for security with one server for static pages and another (ccgi server) for running scripts or Mysql. One of the reasons I don't use it but then again free webspace is free webspace.
mentalist3d
Grafter
Posts: 371
Registered: ‎20-08-2009

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

The site has changed the past few months, gone are the customers testimonials, and list of all the features that are available. You do get a control panel, which is very limited and set-up by themselves, you can change WhoIs, add sub-domains then notify the staff (1 person) to remove any, recently they have added the function that lets you set-up your own MySQL databases, but you used to have them set-up via support tickets.
I had been with them for years without a problem (but knew less then), and as it was also my first experience with a web host, I just assumed that this was the typical set-up for web hosts. It wasn't until I had problems, that I knew something wasn't right, then finally moving host, have made me reaslise how terrible their service is.  Live and learn I suppose.
This is where the data centre used to be apparently:

Source: http://www.vinylonthe.net/blah/my-legal-battle-with-streamlinenet/
When I first registered, they had text and images of a flash, modern, internet hosting company, with vast data centres all throughout the UK, nothing like the pic above. If only I woke up earlier to their game lol
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

I think that photo is probably a joke but quite funny compared with Eukhost's data centre: http://www.eukhost.com/uk-datacenter.php
I could do a better job at hosting for people myself i.e. with Virtualmin etc. if only I could get the bandwidth to my doorstep then a big windmill and backup generator to power the servers etc.
If I win the lottery I will build my data centre and you can come along as my first customer Grin
mentalist3d
Grafter
Posts: 371
Registered: ‎20-08-2009

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

Grin You might not need the millions or large power generators, just a roomful of spuds....... (http://d116.com/spud/) Smiley
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

Very interesting find. Might cause a problem for hosting large media files though Smiley
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

OK, just made the nameserver IP change (2 days late oweing to an unforeseen smtp authentication issue). All seams to be running ok on the new server but I am still waiting for those phonecalls.
mentalist3d
Grafter
Posts: 371
Registered: ‎20-08-2009

Re: What are the chances of people actually paying attention?

has it all went smoothly?